Author: albert

The latest co-signed bit of sunshine from the Pennacchio team.

Last week we showed how corporations and special interests hide behind hip, pastoral, patriotic sounding PACs to funnel huge sums of money to Congressional campaigns. As of September 30th, Bob Casey and Rick Santorum shared 239 of the very same contributors. This week, how PACs control our government by controlling the candidates.

Since 1907, it has been illegal for corporations to contribute money to federal campaigns; for unions, since 1943. PACs provide a nifty end-run around the law. Last year, PACs dumped $310.5 million into federal campaigns. And why not? In 2004, Boeing spent $1.6 million on campaigns through its PAC and collected $17.1 billion in government contracts, a 1,068,650% return on investment! There are similar figures [.pdf] for other contractors, and lengthy rap sheets detailing their corporate misconduct, here.

Bob Casey, Jr. says he can take PAC money and remain independent. So why is Mr. Casey’s response to 45 million Americans and 1.38 million Pennsylvanians with no health insurance so anemic? He supports expanding CHIP, which covers children only, and employer incentives, which don’t protect against skyrocketing costs, won’t reduce paperwork, and are not mandatory. We lose business and 18,000 lives [.pdf] each year because of our backward, cost-prohibitive system of health care funding. A 2003 study showed that 2 out of 3 Americans would prefer universal health care to our current system. Why doesn’t the supposedly populist Casey champion universal health care? Maybe it’s because he’s taken money from 28 insurers, 12 drug companies, 11 hospital and 15 medical specialty PACs, many of whom prefer to control their costs by raising premiums and limiting our access to care. This is why we pay more than twice as much per capita for health care [.pdf] as other industrialized nations, nearly all of whom get better results!

Casey says he can’t support a woman’s right to choose or embryonic stem cell research because it’s against his religion. Yet his church opposed the war in Iraq, which Casey says he would have voted to initiate and fund, and which he supports to this day. Why? Perhaps because he’s taken from 15 defense contractors, none of whom would be pleased to see the United States leave Iraq now.

Do politicians like Casey want to take what amounts to bribe money? We don’t think so. They think that without it, you can’t win races. Yet with it, Democrats are not winning races. With it, our civil government, once the envy of the world, has been gutted. With it, we’ve exchanged our common wealth for generational debt. With it, people exist to serve corporations, not the other way ’round. Let’s face it folks, this isn’t working. And every politician who takes PAC money is propping up a system that strangles democracy and picks our pockets clean. Enough is enough.

Chuck always says that you can’t change politics without changing politics. That’s why Pennacchio for PA doesn’t take PAC money. But the other side of the equation is this: we have to take back our government, we have to do it without a zillion dollars, and the people in control don’t want to hand it over. In the weeks ahead, we’ll talk about how we’re going to make it happen. Look for our next mailblast on Rick Santorum, and why it pays to be crazy.

Julian, Stephanie, Sabra, Dan, Liz, Albert, Danie, and Dave

It’s pretty hard to get a read on what Bob Casey Jr is about. He doesn’t say much. But the Pennacchio team came up with a solution, a Bob on Bob file.

What does Jr. think about the war in Iraq? How about Choice? And PAC money? How about Terri Schiavo? Oooh, and Cheif Justice John Roberts. And what happens when people learn things like this? His numbers go down. In the latest Quinnipiac poll [which once again omitted Pennacchio and Sandals] when the 1447 Pennsylvanians were told that Casey is against a woman’s right to choose, a whopping 22% said that they would not vote in this Senate race.

That 22% number should be headed our way very soon.

So learn more about Bob Casey Jr and be an informed voter at the Democratic primary in May 2006.

Spread the word. Conviction wins. Chuck Pennacchio has conviction. Read all about Chuck’s positions on the issues.

And one last thing. While 63% of Democrats said that they would still vote for Casey Jr after they found out that he was anti-chioce, do the math. Say there are 100 voters. 22% don’t vote, that leaves 78 voters. 63% of those voters would still vote for Jr, that’s 49 votes.

The above graphic is just one page of a five page .pdf I’ve created via the data from BuyBlue.org as of 12.17.05 1.30a. It’s a list of the companies they’ve tracked whose employees have given money to political campaigns, specifically those who have given more than 68% to Republicans.

The above graphic is one page of a three page .pdf I’ve created via the data from BuyBlue.org as of 12.17.05 1.30a. It’s a list of the companies they’ve tracked whose employees have given money to political campaigns, specifically those who have given more than 50% to Democrats.

When we spend money on things, that money doesn’t just end up in the pockets of the employees, but it gets shuffled around and ends up in other people’s hands/pockets.

It’s one week before Christmas, ususally the busiest buying week[end] or so. Take a second and think about where your hard earned money is going when you’re buying those toys for the kids, that t-shirt for your friend, that book for yourself…

Oh man. Justice Sunday III. It’s coming to Philadelphia – my fucking hometown. How dare they. I heard from a friend that it would be in Philadelphia a few weeks ago, but forgot about it until I read this interview by Matt Stoller of MyDD of Michael Schiavo which mentioned it’s coming.

A dKos entry announcing the change of date from December 4th to January 8th as reported on DefCon Blog in November.

The event is Sunday January 8, 2006 at The Greater Exodus Baptist Church which is at 714 N. Broad St. It’s from 7p-8.30p and a second serving from 9p-10.30p. That’s wildcard weekend for the NFC and the Iggles will probably not be partaking in those festivities, so Philly should represent well there; Philly is rather anti-all this extremist Right wing crap.

As of right now, the only esteemed speakers announced for the event are the venerable Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family and the pious Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. Rev. Herbert Lusk of the GEPC will also be speaking. I’m not familiar with Rev. Lusk’s past other than this brief bio, he was a back for the Eagles in the 70s.

I have no idea as to the full agenda, but this is the skinny from the invite Perkins sent out for a pastor-only breakfast in Philly earlier this month:

The Theme is “Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land” (Lev 25:10).

Over the last forty years the courts have systematically chiseled away at the religious liberty of Americans. From the Pledge of Allegiance to the motto on our coins to the public display of the Ten Commandments, the Christian foundation of our nation is at risk. More than ever before the spiritual leaders of our nation must stand united in defending the foundation of our liberty – the Christian faith.

Good God. Our nation is at risk here. All of us, not just Christians. Wackjobs cannot be making decisions for all of us, from any extreme.

I plan on being there, camera gear in hand.

[promoted by BooMan]

The following is a post co-signed by a bunch of folks working on the Chuck Pennacchio campaign, but I also wanted to share it with the Booman community as well as we all want more transparency and better candidates…

Last week Bob Casey’s campaign asked, “Who owns Rick Santorum?” The answer is, the same people who own Bob Casey. Have a look at this.

These PACs have given a lot of money to Bob Casey: Cozen and O’Connor PAC, Delaware Valley PAC, Genesis Healthcare Corporation PAC, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP PAC, PH&S Federal PAC, Reed Smith PAC and the Tercenary Fund.

The same PACs bankroll Rick Santorum. But wait, there’s more!
Bob Casey takes money from JazzPAC. Sounds like Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins formed a political action committee, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s Exelon, Northrop Grumman, SmithKline Beecham, Koch Industries, General Electric, and a bunch of others. Casey also took money from Narragansett Bay PAC. Must be environmental. Sure looks like a J. Crew ad. Nah, it’s General Dynamics, SmithKline Beecham, Ernst & Young, Raytheon, General Electric, Bank of America; is this starting to sound familiar? And then, there’s Ameripac. Can’t you just smell the apple pie cooling? Well hold your nose; it’s Harrah’s, Tropicana, Bacardi, MGM Mirage, Time Warner, the New York Stock Exchange, General Dynamics, Bell South, Clear Channel; the list goes on. And that shadowy 527 group that Casey “exposed,” Americans for Job Security? Their biggest donor is the American Insurance Association, which gave money to CHRISPAC, which gave money to Casey. And this is just the tip of a nearly half-million dollar iceberg.

Santorum or Casey: take your pick. Either way, you get the same people and the same lame excuses for prolonging the war, blocking universal health care, and undermining our fundamental rights. Either way, it’s bridges to nowhere, pay raises for legislators, and defense contractors plundering what’s left of the US Treasury. Either way, Pennsylvanians lose.

Supporters sometimes criticize Chuck for refusing PAC money. If PACs only offered endorsements, we wouldn’t mind. But would they ever endorse both opponents in the same race? Of course not. This isn’t about free speech; it’s about buying influence. And if you think the Democrats are better than the Republicans, have a look at this. Casey and Santorum take hundreds of thousands of dollars from dozens and dozens of PACs that promote the same special interests over and over. Those special interests expect value for money, and they get it.

The Courts won’t stop this. Legislatures won’t stop it. And George W. Bush certainly won’t stop it. But we can stop it. We outnumber them, and we stop this legalized graft by supporting campaigns and candidates who fight for our interests and don’t take PAC money. Legalized graft will end when campaigns like ours take down campaigns like theirs.

On May 16th 2006: Choose Change; Choose Chuck. Please share this information with your friends using our forwarding feature. Their email addresses will not be collected.

We’ll have more next week.

Best wishes,

Julian, Stephanie, Sabra, Dan, Liz, Albert, Danie, and Dave

Well, it’s been a week and Joe Hoeffel has his latest post up now. I responded to his last post [on the 2006 PA races] here. Why do I continue to go after Hoeffel? Because he really let me down. How? He slunk away from this race, seemingly told to do so by the Rendell-Schumer-Reid trio, and stepped in line behind their candidate Bob Casey Jr. when there was a more progressive candidate already out there, Chuck Pennacchio.

His latest post addresses the issue of Campaign Finance and Lobbyists. He advocates changes. He cites a bill of his that was passed into law as a freshman legistator here in PA in 1977

…in June 1977 the House passed my bill to require disclosure of campaign donors and spending 10 days before election day. The law then merely required such disclosure 30 days after election. Some law! But my modest reform drove the old-timers crazy, and the bill languished in the Senate until the election of 1978 approached and the majority Democrats realized we needed some quick passage of reform laws on which to run for re-election. So some reforms were passed that year, but hardly any since then.

Go Joe!

I’m all for campaign finance reform. Fuck, I’m for publicly funded elections.

He closes his post with this

We need limits on campaign giving, full and prompt disclosure of donations, open and transparent relations between lobbyists and public officials, and an air-tight gift ban.

Which to me seems all to coincidental to what the Casey Jr. campaign is trying to fish out of the Santorum camp. The Casey Jr. campaign is currently running a blogad across a lot of political and non-political sites [including Philly Future] calling out Santorum for his association with a Swift Boat Vets for Truth-esque group called Americans for Job Security [aren’t the names just delicious?]. Now, I have no problem with the Casey Jr. camp calling out the Santorum side for this all too coincidental association – the AFJS group and Santorum’s website used the same stock footage for an ad in relation to Social Security. The Casey Jr. camp is going after AFJS through the FEC to get them to disclose who their donors are. AFJS is a registered 501(c)6 group which allows limited political activity without disclosing donors and it looks like they’re in bed with Santorum’s campaign [yuck, Man on PAC action]. What I DO have a problem with is the hypocrisy.

AFJS is largely funded by a large political action committee [PAC], American Insurance Association. AIA PAC gave more than $1M to AFJS in 2004. AIA PAC also gave $5500 in the last year to Chris PAC [Sen. Chris Dodd’s PAC]. Chris PAC gave $10,000 to Casey Jr.’s campaign over the summer. Now, that may sound like too many degrees of separation or not enough money, but that’s not necessarily what I’m getting at. I’m saying that they’re ALL IN BED WITH EACH OTHER. Campaigns who take money from PACs take money from everyone that PAC takes from. It’s like how you’re taught in Sex Ed class. Having sex with a person is like having sex with every person that that person had sex with, you’re exposed to all the STDs passed along the way. When you take PAC money, you’re infected by EVERY SINGLE affiliation those PACs have with other PACs, causes and candidates. Have you ever chided your friend for hooking up with that crazy whore or that disgusting manslut? Chide Casey Jr and Santorum. Show them you won’t stand for it.

Dave Sirota has an incredible piece on how the Dems have resorted and lauded having resorted to lobbyists for big money and the perks afforded to those lobbyists [original Roll Call post]

In case you thought that Democrats aren’t deliberately publicizing their efforts to shakedown corporate lobbyists – just look at Steny Hoyer’s taxpayer-funded Minority Whip website. Members of Congress always put up stories promoting themselves – and here, incredibly, Hoyer is actually promoting a story about his work setting up a formalized system of legalized bribery – as if the story itself is a trophy to be flaunted. That story notes that Hoyer regularly holds “listening sessions with lobbyists, trade association heads and corporate executives.” And the lobbyists love it. Said one insurance industry lobbyist, “It’s important for us in industry to have folks in the House Democratic leadership who want to hear from us.” Said a corporate lobbyist who used to be a Hoyer staffer, “I think lobbyists in the business community are interested in getting to know the Democratic leadership.”

Remember, this is not Roll Call “digging up” these stories – Roll Call is a lot of things, but it’s no investigative news hound. This is Democrats actively going out of their way to pitch stories about their efforts to shakedown corporate America – all at a time when they are also trying to berate the Republican’s “culture of corruption.” I mean, really – is this some sort of weird joke where the Democrats are actually doing the Republicans’ “hypocrisy” attack ads for them?

…

Make no mistake about it – in order to pursue a media strategy like this, you have to be wholly out of touch with ordinary people and the real world. Not sort of out of touch – totally and completely out of touch with how to communicate with voters, how to win elections, and what politics is supposed to be about. You have to have spent so much time in the greasy, slimy, odious halls of power rubbing elbows with this or that lobbyist that you can’t even remember what it’s like to talk to real people out in the country.

[as seen on the Pennacchio blog via Atrios]

Oh, and also, AIA PAC gave $6500 directly to Santorum.

And let me not forget the hypocrisy of Rendell-Schumer-Reid backing an anti-chioce candidate when the biggest fight in the Senate right now is over the presumably anti-choice SCOTUS nominee Samuel A. Alito. Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi writes:

If Democrats believe a Supreme Court nominee must state a commitment to the precedent set by Roe, why not hold a candidate for US Senate who will vote on a nominee to the same standard?

At a certain point, having it both ways is hypocritical. Voters can tell when you are speaking out of both sides of your mouth.

What say you, leadership?

Chuck Pennacchio does not take PAC money. His campaign is funded by individual donations from individuals like you reading this here blog post. Only you can keep up the fight for integrity in Pennsylvania and the US Senate. Tell your friends. Donate what you can. Keep up the fight.

[keep up the fight Albert. You da man.- Boo]

Way back when I interviewed Joe Hoeffel, I had a feeling he wouldn’t be posting very often and it’s turned out to be true. He posted today with his seventh post in nine weeks. I’d comment over there more, but it’s annoying to have comments posted on an approval-by-webmaster basis. So, I post this here.

He wrote:

Bob [Casey Jr.] spoke today at an event at my law firm…

I don’t have a problem with Casey Jr. speaking at a law firm. But it seems that it’s stops like this that are the only ones he’s making and I think that’s shitty. I haven’t heard or read of a single account of him showing up at a grassroots event. A Meetup. A Drinking Liberally. A rally. There’s nothing wrong with raising money. There is something wrong with not talking to the people.

In the interview Hoeffel said:

Voters are looking for candidates they know, trust and feel comfortable with who are speaking clearly and sensibly about things the voters care about. Left, right or center, Kerry didn’t meet those standards and neither does Santorum, for different reasons. Casey does.

Damn straight Kerry didn’t meet those standards, he still doesn’t. But I haven’t seen Casey Jr. speak clearly on a lot of issues. Say the Iraq war. The slow-moving Casey campaign still hasn’t reacted to Rep. Murtha’s call for withdrawal. Chuck Pennacchio didn’t see the Iraq war as the right move and has been calling for troop withdrawal for ages.

It annoys me that people agree with Chuck Pennacchio‘s stance on the issues but give money to Casey Jr. It really annoys me that Rendell-Reid-Schumer made the PA Senate race what it now is.

Some HUGE reasons I’m a Pennacchio supporter are for his stances on the issus of choice, embryonic stem cell research and the morning after pill. Pennacchio is pro-choice, pro expansion of embryonic stem cell research and for unfettered access to the morning after pill. Casey Jr. is anti-choice, against the expansion of embryonic stem cell research and doesn’t have a problem with pharmacists witholding access to the morning after pill. I dug up this post from the old Young Philly Politics blogspot hosted site, a post by Dan. He discusses an article in the Inky about the PA Senate race. In part:

But, and this is a big but, his aim to straddle the line with abortion gets him in big trouble. Because, apparently to Casey, the abortion issue is not about his religious beliefs, but about “biology,” because he says “there’s a life there.” While this may be Casey’s way of moderating his pro-life stance, he ruins it with this:

“Casey said he would, as a senator, avoid a litmus test on any issue in voting on judicial nominees. He would oppose expanding federally supported embryonic stem-cell research beyond 2001 levels. He would not require pharmacists to go against personal beliefs and fill prescriptions for emergency contraceptives, which prevent a fertilized egg from implanting.”

Science, eh? So you know no life is started for a few days after people have sex, right? Then why would you have problems with the morning-after pill, which simply prevents pregnancy from taking place? Pure, pure hypocrisy.

Furthermore, the idea that a pharmacist can refuse to fill a goddamned medical prescription is ridiculous. If they can refuse to fill a prescription for emergency contraception, can they refuse to fill it for normal contraception? Reeeee-diculous, and really scary. It should tell you something when Rick Santorum is the co-sponsor of the bill (with JOHN KERRY).

Casey wins by talking about compassion, about a return of poverty alleviation as a Democratic principal. He loses when he tries to skirt this line on choice. Especially when he tries to make this something it is not. This is about his religion, fine. But lets not pretend otherwise, because it only hurts him in the long run.

…

The article then finishes with a rundown of where Santorum, Casey and yes, Pennacchio, stand on many of these specifics. And while it was not included in the article, here is what Pennacchio apparently said to Budoff about abortion (from mydd):

“We can either choose to eliminate rights or improve lives, and I choose to improve lives. Nobody wants to see another abortion, but what we need to do is make our society a stronger, more supportive environment, in which women will have a real choice.”

“The most critical question, the common ground question, is how do we reduce the abortion rate without criminalizing women and doctors? What we need to address, all of us, is how to give women a real choice by providing life affirming support in the form pre-natal care, post-natal care, and economic opportunity.”

I include those last few quotes, because, more than anything else, that is the exact, exact right way that Democrats should be talking about choice.

I couldn’t agree more. Casey Jr. is off base on the issue of choice.

I also dug up this post by Jim at The Rittenhouse Review on an email that Kerry sent out in June urging Kerry PA supporters to support Casey. Jim had this to say:

You know what? Not so fast, John.

There’s a better option for Pennsylvania Democrats, for all Pennsylvanians: Chuck Pennacchio, a declared and very active candidate seeking the party’s nomination to take on Sen. Tweedledum.

I recently had the honor and pleasure of meeting Pennacchio for a second time, to hear him speak passionately about the future of this country and make his very strong case that despite considerable odds he can win both the primary and the general election.

Rarely have I been so impressed by a candidate for public office. Pennacchio’s principles and strategy are not unlike those of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, and if that’s all you learn from me today my work will be done, at least for now.

Maybe instead of contributing to the Casey campaign, which at this point in the race, given Casey’s unwillingness to talk to anyone outside the party hierarchy, is like giving money to a ghost, Democrats could spend a little time learning more about Pennacchio, because, really, there is a choice, and no one, not even Sen. Kerry, can take that away from you.

It’s still very true today several months later. Casey Jr. is pretty ghostly, said to have shown up here and there at big money bashes, but never at the no money bashes. Once again, I gotta say that there isn’t anything wrong with raising money, it’s ignoring the rest of us that has me pissed off.

In the interview Joe said:

I am frustrated by low voter turnouts in this country. Mostly I blame politicians for running uninteresting campaigns…

I find Casey Jr. uninteresting and I find his campaign uninteresting. I find Chuck Pennacchio to be enthusiastic and insightful. I find Chuck Pennacchio’s campaign to be enthusiastic and insightful. Vote for Chuck Pennacchio in the May 2006 primary.

Update [2005-12-1 11:24:29 by albert]: There’s a fundraiser on December the 8th for Chuck Pennacchio in Philadephia. I’d love to see some fellow Boo-sters there!

Above is a drawing by Brenna Lorenz from State College, PA, she emailed it to the Pennacchio team and asked us to use it as we pleased so there it is. She very well captures what I feel Bobby Casey Jr. is trying to do to the voters in Pennsylvania.

Jr. is currently running a stealth campaign. Not really running a campaign right now. He’s fundraising. Yes, that is a big part of being a candidate, but what he’s leaving out is the human interaction/contact part of a campaign that actually wins over voters. Chuck is out there every day meeting people. At house parties in Montgomery County, speaking to groups in Erie, standing in solidarity with students at City Hall where I live in Philadelphia. He’s all over the place.

Chuck doesn’t have to put on “a face” to go out to talk to people, he is who he is. Jr. on the other hand has to put on his donkey suit before he leaves the house as illustrated in the cartoon above. Brenna’s sentiment is one that I share, he is not genuine. He tries to take on “Democratic” stances on issues like stem cell research, choice and healthcare. On embryonic stem cells, he supports the federal funding of existing embryonic stem cells and not of newly cultivated ones [Update: Philly Inquirer article]– the position of the current Bush administration. That’s nice, since the ones that we have now are contaminated. Chuck is for the expansion of federal funding monies for embryonic stem cell research [.pdf]. Incumbent Rick Santorum does not want any federal funding whatsoever.

Jr. does not support the right for a woman to choose to have an abortion [Update: PA Catholic Conference 2004 questionnaire]. Chuck Pennacchio is a strong supporter of women’s rights. He believes in a woman’s right to choose. But let’s be very, very, very clear here. Nobody wants abortions. The Democratic party has been misaligned as a group of abortion-party having, unethical, anti-Americans. Abortions are to be rare. But they are also to be safe and they are to remain a legal option on a federal level, albeit a last one. If Roe v. Wade were to ever be overturned, yes, the states would have the right to say yea or nay to a similar piece of legislation, but then what happens to the women who now have to travel thousands of miles for what could be a life saving procedure; a procedure that could have been performed at her local hospital. Incumbent Rick Santorum has a zero rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Jr. does not support a measure to provide universal single-payer healthcare to all Americans [Update: Centre Daily article]. Chuck Pennacchio is for single-payer healthcare [.pdf]. How can Americans live in the most advanced, industrialized nation in the world and actively deny access to those in need. Chuck Pennacchio wants to change that. By not accepting monies from PACs, he will not have to answer to them. He does not owe Big Pharma any favors. Nor the insurance lobby. Incumbent Rick Santorum stands strongly opposed to universal single-payer healthcare and would rather see the current “competition” between insurers keep prices low. Those of us with coverage [“us” meaning PA residents in general since that term currently excludes myself] can attest to how well prices have been kept low. There are some 1,300,000 unisured PA residents uninsured.

And while not a “Democratic” issue, it is an issue that cuts to the core, the war in Iraq. Chuck Pennacchio was against the invasion of Iraq from the start and believes that we need to get out of Iraq. He has drafted an Iraq Exit Strategy [.pdf]. Jr. stated that he suppored the use of force [as did incumbent Rick Santorum]. Jr. had this to say on Iraq and withdrawing our troops:

Some people think that pulling out is a good idea and a timeline is a good idea — I don’t agree with that.

That is not what the majority of Pennsylvanians and Americans thinks. The majority of Pennsylvanians and Americans want out of Iraq and want our troops to come home. The majority of Pennsylvanians and Americans believe in a woman’s right to choose. The majority of Pennsylvanians and Americans want access to affordable healthcare. The majority of Pennsylvanians and Americans agree with Chuck Pennacchio on the issues.

According to this AP story by Kimberly Hefling [contact her: khefling@ap.org] stating that Sen. Santorum (R- PA) just finished meeting with Supreme Court nominee Alito.

The conservative Pennsylvania senator said he did not ask about specific issues – including abortion – because “I don’t think that’s what’s important.”

“What is important is the judge’s philosophy,” said Santorum, the No. 3 Senate Republican. “It is absolutely consistent where I think a majority of Americans are, which is judges are to apply the law, not make the law.”

The article mentioned Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) and had to mention Bob Casey Jr.  Hefling neglected to mention candidates Chuck Pennacchio, Alan Sandals and John Featherman.  All three of those candidates are pro-choice.  Hefling wrote that Casey is

the leading Democratic challenger in Santorum’s 2006 bid for re-election. Santorum is lagging behind Casey in the polls, and the race is already a closely watched Senate races for next year.

Which is all true, but in an artilce about Alito, she tangentially touched on Jr.’s race while neglecting to include the rest of the group.  Casey’s favorability numbers are lagging according to the most recent Keystone PA poll.  His favorability number fell 10% since June.

But back to Alito…

Santorum’s press secretary this week criticized Casey for not taking a stand on whether he would back Alito to the court. Casey told reporters on Monday that despite the family connection he’s waiting for more information to come out about Alito.

Who else is questioning Jr.?  Chuck Pennacchio.  Pennacchio wants answers to two questions.  1) the Alito nomination and 2) the Bush/Santorum Iraq War policy.  Pennacchio would vote against the Alito nomination and not only would he have voted against the war, he wants the troops home and has an Iraq exit strategy [.pdf].  It’s been over two months since Pennacchio met Jr. in person in Lehigh Valley and asked him to a debate[s].  Still no answer.

Jr. is scared to say anything with conviction.  Hemming and hawing his way with fingers crossed seems to be his campaign’s tactic which in my book is not a way to run a campaign against a very charismatic incumbent with a sizable following.  Chuck Pennacchio stands behind his words with pride.